https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2025/02/you-cant-eat-pearls-barnabas-wilson.html
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls." — Matthew 13:45
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What the Essay Is Saying
(Plain English)
Br. Barnabas's thesis is simple:
> Human analogies break when taken literally, but Christ's analogies don't—because the spiritual truths behind them are more real than the analogy itself.
He uses the parable of the pearl of great price to illustrate this.
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1. Human analogies are helpful but fragile
He opens with humor:
Saying "-5.00 diopters" doesn't help most people
Saying "blind as a bat" works instantly
But if you take "busy as a bee" literally, it becomes absurd
So:
> Human analogies can only go so far before they collapse.
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2. Jesus uses analogies because Heaven is beyond our natural comprehension
Christ describes the Kingdom with:
pearls
treasure
seeds
fields
These images give us access to a reality we cannot understand directly.
But Christ's analogies are different from ours.
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3. Push Jesus' analogy literally… and it becomes even more true
Br. Barnabas imagines the literal scenario:
merchant sells everything
he owns nothing but a single pearl
he's hungry
you can't eat pearls
This would be foolish if we were talking about an earthly pearl.
But in Christ's analogy, the pearl represents:
> the Kingdom of Heaven — union with God Himself.
And that is worth everything.
So even when you push the analogy to its "breaking point," instead of collapsing, it opens a deeper truth.
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4. The Pearl = Christ Himself
This is the essay's real pivot:
> Jesus isn't giving us a pearl.
He's giving us Himself.
He is:
the treasure
the pearl
the fulfillment of every analogy
This is deeply sacramental and incarnational:
If we're lonely → Jesus is friendship
If we're tired → Jesus is rest
If we've sinned → Jesus is mercy
If we're hungry → Jesus gives His Body and Blood
Thus:
> Christ is not LIKE the treasure.
Christ IS the treasure.
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5. Earthly treasures cannot satisfy, but the Kingdom can
Why?
Because:
earthly pearls can be owned but not eaten
earthly wealth can be possessed but not save
earthly goods satisfy temporarily
But:
> The Kingdom gives a happiness that needs nothing more.
And the Kingdom is not a thing — it is a Person.
This is classic Dominican spirituality:
The end of man is union with God
Everything else is a shadow of that fulfillment
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Final meaning of the essay
Here is the thesis in a single sentence:
> Give everything for Christ because only in Him do you receive everything your soul was made for.
This is why the merchant's actions, which look foolish literally, become wise spiritually.
You can't eat pearls.
You can't live off earthly treasures.
But you can live on Christ.
